Luxury house prices in Taipei last quarter increased 14.9 percent year-on-year, the 10th-highest rise globally, as upscale housing around the world recovered amid monetary easing and a surge in safe-haven purchases, a survey by London-based property consultancy Knight Frank LLP showed.
Prime prices across 46 international cities increased on average 8.2 percent, accelerating from a 4.6 percent gain in March, Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index showed.
The index tracks the performance of luxury residential prices in key cities on a quarterly basis.
“Taiwan’s solid economic fundamentals, ample liquidity, stock rallies drove capital to take shelter in luxury housing,” Knight Frank Taiwan researcher Andy Huang (黃舒衛) said.
The favorable factors, coupled with record-low interest rates, accounted for the 14.9 percent increase from April to June, compared with a 6.5 percent increase three months earlier, Huang said.
Last quarter, three apartment units at an expensive residential complex in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) changed hands, he said, adding that an apartment in Zhongshan District’s (中山) Dazhi (大直) area was sold for NT$2.2 million (US$78,735) per ping (3.3m2), while another in Zhongcheng District (中正) was sold for NT$2.5 million per ping.
The deals indicate that luxury housing sale prices spike when buyers are keen, Huang said.
Globally, Toronto topped the survey with an annual price growth of 27 percent, driven by strong buyer appetite and low inventory, the consultancy said.
The next three spots were Asian cities, defying a recent raft of cooling measures, it said.
Prices in Shanghai soared 21 percent, gained 19.8 percent in Guangzhou, China, and advanced 19.5 percent in Seoul, it added.
“Until now, the [COVID-19] pandemic-fueled house boom was most evident in the mainstream market, but the prime sector has now surged ahead,” Knight Frank said.
Knight Frank said it expects London, New York, Paris and Dubai to move up the rankings this quarter, as travel restrictions ease and international buyers start to recognize value in the cities.
Likewise, the local property market is expected to rebound after the government late last month eased disease prevention measures, Huang said, adding that growing inflationary pressure would lend support to safe-haven purchases.
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